Health & Wellbeing News

Pouring money down the metaphorical drain is the worst nightmare of most business owners. That's why before starting any new initiatives to improve your business you should be sure that they'll make a positive difference - corporate health insurance in Australia is no exception.

But it can be tough to know what questions to ask when buying corporate health insurance, and to figure out what's really important.

It's a phrase thrown around so often that it loses meaning, but it's also an essential factor of any business's success. A recent OKI study found that 78 per cent of businesses intend to implement new initiatives to improve cost efficiency in the next year. Are you looking to do the same? How can you get started?

Articles, opinion pieces and statistics about Australia's brain drain flood the internet and intermittently appear on back covers of our nations most respected newspapers. It's certainly a topic of hot contention, but is it a real concern for Australian businesses?

There's no doubt health insurance premiums are a necessary cost for millions of Australians. In fact, a total of 13.5 million people have health insurance in our country, according to the most recent statistics provided by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

That's why it's such exciting news that a new initiative by the Government could put downward pressure on premium increases in 2017 and beyond. We've had a closer look.

The way we work and live is quickly changing. We spend more and more time sitting still, staring at computer screens at work or televisions at home, and unsurprisingly our workforce's physical and mental health is declining as a result.

Wise men say that the most important thing you have in life is your health. That's why it's so shocking that Australian Prudential Regulation Authority data shows only 47 per cent of Australians have health insurance policies that cover general hospital treatment.

Businesses searching for methods of improving their bottom line and solving their problems need only improve the health of their employees. Time and time again, research has proved that doing so has countless benefits and yet it's rarely the priority.

The following problems are just a few that you could solve as a result of adopting a tailor-made corporate health insurance plan and increasing your focus on employee health.

'Employee wellness program' is something of a buzz-phrase at the moment. Research from the World Health Organisation and countless other authorities says that when effectively implemented, the right approach could cause productivity to skyrocket. However, information on how to implement your own employee wellness program can be hard to come by.

The average Australian employee leads an increasingly busy life - longer hours and more demanding work make sure of that. This often manifests in increasing levels of stress and health problems, which negatively affect employees' work attendance and productivity.

Many Australian business decision-makers believe that corporate health insurance is expensive - only suited to large businesses with massive cash reserves. Here at HICA we've been helping businesses with their insurance needs for decades and we know for a fact this this isn't true.